The Beginning of the End
by sbuds
Summary: WarrenOC.This is a fan fic with an OC that resembles an actual person. Faith has her own personality, her own real life hobbies and problems and flaws. She is truly “original” and this is her story.
1. The Beginning

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine.

Please review, with anything you feel in relevant. Constructive criticism is an authors greatest tool, so let me know what is on your mind.

This is **not** another Warren+Original Character that embodies a Mary Sue. This is a fan fiction with an OC that resembles an actual person. Faith has her own personality, her own real life hobbies and problems and flaws. She is not "all powerful" nor is she a sassy Goth that captures Warrens admiration when she saves him from the claws of death and his own angst. She is truly "original" and this is her story.

The Beginning of the End

Chapter One, The Beginning

A bright sun shone through fluffy white clouds, illuminating a robins-egg-blue sky. A bird twittered happily in a large oak covered in bright green growth. The air was thick with scent of summer and the buzzing of bugs. It was, overall, a beautiful day, according to a cheerful voice coming out of a radio/alarm clock.

"Eighty degrees and climbing folks, it is beauuuuuutiful day! Let's not forget that today marks the beginning of a very restful school year for us grownups. Haw. Haw. Today is the first day of school for every kiddy in Maxville Metropolis. Goooood morning to ya'll and have a great first day of school! Haw. Haw. Here's a track for ya'll as you get ready." The voice retreated from the radio speaker and a pop song started, well, popping.

Faith pulled her face out of her mattress and rolled over, groaning at the onslaught of over bright sunlight. A fist of disgust raised out of a pile of flannel blankets and smashed into the offending radio/alarm clock, sending ice shards everywhere. The tiny, crystal-like pieces of frozen water melted in the heat, evaporating in seconds. Faith groaned again and pulled a pillow from the depths of her many blankets, promptly burying her face in it.

She did not want to get up.

She did not want to go to school.

She did not want summer to end, the warm weather to disappear, the leaves on the trees to brown and die, the birds to fly south.

A loud rapping at the bottom of the stairs shook her out of her bout of grumbling. "Faith! Get up child! You wouldn't want to miss your first day of schoooool, would you? Your dear old grandpappy is getting to old to go flying around anymore. My knees aren't what they used to be, I don't think I would be able to get off of the ground!"

Faith groaned once more for good measure and rolled off of her bed onto the floor with a muffled thump, still wrapped in her flannel blankets. She let out on "Oof," of air and lay there shivering.

Being a 'zen, or (for those unversed in the slang of Supers) having the power to manipulate water, Faith was always cold. Even in the middle of summer. She had on a ratty pair of black plaid pajama bottoms and an equally ratty gray sweat shirt and she was still shivering.

Faith lay on the floor and stared at her ceiling still covered in glow-in-the-dark stars from when she was seven. She wished she was seven, instead of seventeen. She wished…well she wished a lot of things, but now was not the time for wishing, even if she had a ceiling full of stars.

----------

Faith dragged herself down the stairs from her room, dressed in a new pair of Levi's and a silky light blue blouse. A blue satin ribbon adorned her neck and her long white hair flowed freely down her back. It just reached her waist.

"Good morning sunshine," her pappy chirped at her from the kitchen. He had a newspaper spread across the table and a cup of straight black coffee in one wrinkled hand.

Faith grunted in his general direction and dragged herself past the kitchen, past the living room, past the formal dining room, past the family room, past the reck room, past the laundry room, and into the mud room. She couldn't help but feel that the house had too many rooms for just her and her Pappy. The house felt empty. But then everything felt empty since her parents had died.

Right at the beginning of the summer some Royal Pain wannabe staged a huge "corrupt the leaders of the free world" plot. Both of her parents had rushed off to help fight the wannabe and had died in the process. Jetstream and The Commander ended up prevailing over the copycat criminal, but Faith was left parentless and broken. Pappy flew in from the Bahamas, where he had retired, and moved in with Faith, helping her rebuild what was left of her torn life. But it wasn't the same without her parents.

This would be the first day of school where her mother was not waiting with an obnoxiously large pile of pancakes drowning in syrup-a Monday tradition. This would be the first day of school where her father wouldn't be at the door to give her a goodbye kiss on the forehead and a spirit rousing, "Go get 'em kid." Those things used to annoy her but now her heart ached with their absence.

Against her will, Faiths throat got uncomfortably tight and her eyes burned with suppressed tears, but she refused to cry. She had done enough of that over the last three months. She would not cry on the first day of school.

She would officially be a senior today, and she would now be authorized to choose her side kick. Which meant she would spend the year learning to work with someone with close to useless powers.

To be completely truthful with herself, Faith had to admit she hadn't put as much thought into this as she should have. All she knew is she really didn't want a hero-supporter. Whoever it was would just get in the way and mess things up.

_Perhaps there is someway to get around the whole "pick a sidekick" rule, _Faith thought as she pulled on a new pair of blue sneakers. _I'm sure Mrs. Powers would make an exception if I made my case, _she reassured herself.

----------

Faith had rushed from the bus to Principal Power's office door, where she knocked without relief until she was invited in. There she made her argument against picking a side kick. She now waited with barely contained apprehension for an answer.

"Well, you do pose an interesting argument, I'll give you that, but this just unheard of. No hero support? It's, well it's un-American, that's what it is. And Mr. Boy would be crushed, absolutely crushed." Mrs. Powers smiled weakly at Faith. "Now I realize that your main argument is that you work best by yourself and I cannot disagree with you there. I've seen your work, but part of being a Super is being able to work as a team with other, less-abled, individuals." Mrs. Powers paused for a breath and then continued. "I do, however, have a compromise for you, Faith. You are not the first senior to see me today on this…ah…touchy issue. I will not make you pick a support. In fact, you will have no sidekick at all. Instead you will work with Warren Peace this year-and you two will become a team."

Faith let out the breath she had been holding and felt a smile stretch across her face. But then what her principal had said registered with her brain and her eyes bugged out. She stood with a muttered, "Thank you" and rushed off to lunch to tell her friends and gain their well deserved sympathy.

----------

"YOU WHAT?"

The enraged shout echoed throughout the Sky High cafeteria, ringing between the ceiling beams.

Faith glanced around at her friends, all leaning forward, looking for an answer to the shouted question. She then looked out at the staring students of the cafeteria, all stopped-mid chew-to see what the yelling was about. She felt the back of her neck turn an uncomfortable shade of red, but she was resolute in her decision, even if it had some…unfortunate ultimatums.

"Did you really not hear me or are you asking for another chance to glare angrily at me and then yell at the top of your voice?" Faith paused before repeating what she had said that provoked such an enraged reaction from her best friend. "_I said_ I asked Powers to excuse me from picking a sidekick and she did. BUT instead of working with a SK I have to spend the year working with Warren Peace, and we will become a Supers team." Faith glanced around at her friends staring at her with wide eyes and dropped jaws. Cadence, her best friend of three years, snapped her mouth shut with a loud teeth jarring click and opened it again to shout, "YOU MUMple muffle mmm."

Faith glared at Cadence, one hand covering her mouth. "I really do not want to entire school to know about my less than desirable partnership with our resident Pyro," Faith hissed.

"Meth wo oph my moph," Cadence mumbled against her hand.

"Promise to keep it to a dull roar." Cadence glared at Faith over her hand. "Promise!" Faith prompted. Cadence narrowed her eyes angrily and then stuck her tongue out, licking a trail of spit along Faith's hand.

Not missing a beat, Faith forced her hand to drop its temperature to freezing. It only took a second and Cadence's tongue was frozen to Faith's hand. "Promise or your face is going to be frozen to my hand all day." Faith chirped in a voice barely containing laughter. "Promise?"

Cadence nodded, her head bobbing up and down enthusiastically. "Alright, I am going to let you go now." Faith forced the temperature in her hand to return normal and she slowly removed it from her best friends face. A frosted outline remained for a moment before melting and running in little rivulets down Cadences face.

"Why don't you want an SK? You're breaking hundreds of years of Supers tradition!" Cadence exclaimed, careful not to let her become too shrill.

Faith twisted in her seat and looked behind her at the table where Will Stronghold sat, telling a very animated story. He was waving his hands around and making exaggerated faces at his enthralled audience, all except Warren Peace, who sat at the very end of the table, farthest from the preppy group and their inside jokes. There was an empty sear across from his, and one beside him on either side, obviously cutting him off from the rest of the group. Warren might have left his lonely table in preference for his friends but he obviously enjoyed his solitude.

"Will Stronghold's parents are a team," Faith pointed out. "Neither of them have a sidekick. They are equal in their...crime fighting endeavors."

"Yeah but Will's parents are the strongest Supers team in Maxville, if not the country. AND they love each other. Not to mention that they are on the side of truth and justice. Warren is the son of _Barren Battle_! One of the most evil Supers EVER! And you're not in love with him." The last sentence was a statement, not a question.

Faith took a deep breath before nodding in agreement. She was not in love with Warren Peace.

Though most of the female population at Sky High harbored a hidden desire to become the girl that ignited Warren's flame, Faith was the only one who had ever gotten remotely close. One dance at an almost world ruining Homecoming in her sophomore year. For weeks afterward Faith had waited with bated breath, watching for a sign from Warren that the dance had meant something to him, but he never spared her a second glance.

She knew, somewhere inside her broken heart, that is was just a silly dance and nothing more, but her hopeless romantic fantasies refused to let her give it up. The 6 foot 3 inch Pyro with his silky long hair and rippling muscles held such infatuation for her innocent ideas of love and adventure.

"Okay out with it." Faith turned back around to her best friend.

"What?" she asked, her silver-white eyebrows raised in question.

"You have sighed, like, eleven times in the last thirty seconds and you've got that starry-eyed, far off look eating your face, which, by the way, seems to be the theme of today's lunchtime ventures. Check out the flower child and her famous boyfriend. She must be hungry."

Faith scrunched up her nose and spun around in her seat again to watch Will and Layla make out over their table. It was quite appalling. She glanced at Warren to gauge his reaction to his best friends lack of decorum and was startled to find he was not looking at the loving couple, but at her.

Trying in vain to recover from her shock, Faith raised her eyebrows at Warren in question and nodded towards Will and Layla. The corner of his mouth raised in a crooked grimace of disgust and he rolled his dark, smokey gray eyes. Faith felt herself smile as Warren returned to his book.

The bell rang to signal the end of lunch and Faith stood, grabbing her untouched food. Cadence joined her, still munching on a half-eaten apple. "Since you so graciously decided to miss this mornings 'First-Day-Of-School-This-Is-The-Beginning-Of-The-Rest-Of-Your-Life assembly I suppose I could be the great best friend we all know I am and let you in on the schedule." Cadence said as they walked out of the cafeteria. "Everyone has now until the end of this week to pick their support and on Friday the pairs will be announced after Save the Citizen which we are still required to participate in." Faith groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes we all know it blows. As I was saying-once the pairs are made and announced, the rest of the year will be devoted to rigorous independent study with said sidekick. Pop quizzes will be given by none other than Powers herself, who will, according to rumor, gather you and your SK and drop you in a Save the Citizen type of situation and grade you an how well you and you SK work together to best your opponent. At the end of the semester those unsatisfactory pairs which have failed the PQ's will be reassigned. At the end of the year we will all be sent out into the world to be placed in 'real' jobs that best fit our personality and strong suits where we will occasionally drop all to don costumes and save the world. Aren't you _excited_?" The last part of Cadence's monologue was dripping with sarcasm and accompanied by an enthusiastic imitation of a preppy cheerleader. Faith rolled her eyes at her best friends theatrics and pulled out her lip gloss-the only makeup she wore-and applied a fresh coat, sighing at its silky feel.

"One of these days your going to get a nasty batch of that stuff and your lips are going to fall off," Cadence warned good-naturedly.

"I doubt it."

"Whatever Faith, but don't deny that I warned you once your lipless." Cadence tossed her apple core into a nearby garbage can. "I've got to get to the costume shop for a theater meeting while the freshies are still in power placement. I've got lead this year you know!" Cadence yelled over her shoulder.

"Only the sixty-seventh time you've reminded me!" Faith yelled back as she turned away from Cadence's retreating back and headed to her locker, weaving between the crowds. She spun in her combination without even looking down. Four years of highschool and that was the only thing she learned she felt was worth while.

Faith could see it now-_Her first job interview and her perspective boss is looking over her pathetic excuse for a resume with a smirk. "What exactly is it you feel you are good at?"_

"_Well, now that you mention it, I can open my combination lock on my locker without even looking. Mad skill, is it not? And I happen to be human freezer. What do I mean by that, you ask. Well I can freeze anything with a touch and unfreeze it too! Oh, and I can drop my body temperature so low that I become as solid as a diamond. Impressive I know. What good will that do me as an accountant? Well I am sorry, but the private high school I attended, which happens to float in the sky, never taught algebra."_

"_Perhaps you should try the ice cream shop down the road then."_

"_Well, thank you. I think I'll do just that." _

Faith stared off into the fluorescent lights, her pessimistic daydream consuming all her attention, so she didn't notice a tall, burly football player barreling backwards down the hallway, his arms raised in anticipation of a football spinning through the air. The player caught the ball right as he smashed into Faith and her locker, crushing her fingers in the metal door and throwing her body against the row of closed lockers. Her head slammed back and her arm bent to a agonizing angle.

In the haze of pain, Faith could feel her fingers and her arms crack. Before her bones could break she forced her body temperature to plummet until her body was so hard that the locker door bent around her fingers and her shoulders and hips forced impressions into the lockers she was crushed against. The football players momentum sent him sprawling to the floor and Faith was crammed into the metal.

Slowly her body softened from its diamond-like state and she crumpled to the ground. Blood trickled down the side of her face and her right arm swelled and turned an ugly yellow-green color. Tears leaked out of her squeezed-shut eyes and a moan escaped her lips. The hall, and all the people in it, fell silent, watching to see what happened next.

The player scrambled to his feet and swore. His buddies rushed forwards and stood around Faith, staring at her body impression in the lockers and muttering under their breath. The player scratched the top of his head, trying to decide what to do. Before he could do anything though, someone pushed past him and knelt down to Faith, scooping her limp body up and walking off toward the nurses office.

Faith's eyes rolled into the back of her head and then forward again, and the only thing she saw before she passed out was a pair of intense, smokey gray eyes.


	2. Meeting IT

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. It makes me more inclined to write and update. Thanks again for that motivation.

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Two, Meeting IT

Faith floated in dark state of semiconsciousness. She felt cold, colder than she could ever remember feeling, and her whole body ached. Her head throbbed, her back burned with an icy fire, and her arm felt as if a million tiny ice shards were burrowing themselves under her skin.

And the noise! A brass band played on her temples, screaming and screeching and arguing. _Wait, arguing? Brass bands didn't argue, did they?_ The racket reached an unbearable climax and Faith fell out of the darkness onto a cold metal table.

"SHUT UP!"

Faith glared around at all the people crowded into the nurses office and then groaned at the pain. She had been sitting up but now she fell back down to a lying position. Her whole body felt like one giant bruise and even breathing hurt.

The room was silent for a few of those agonizing breaths but then whispers started up. The whispers escalated into talking, which turned to arguing, which became yelling very quickly. Faith gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing to fall back to the darkness. At least it was quiet there.

"Alright, that is quite enough everyone!" An elderly voice commanded. "Every one of you can go back to class, or lunch, or wherever it is you belong." When no one moved the voice yelled, "Out! Now!" Angry grumbling followed as people filed out until just three remained. Faith opened her eyes and saw the old nurse, Cadence, and the impossibly tall football player standing around the metal table she was laying on.

"Both of you–out." The nurse shooed at Cadence and the player, waving her wrinkly hands as if swatting at a fly.

"No way!" Cadence said, resting her fists on her hips, at the same time IT (impossibly tall) said, "Nuh-uh."

"Look lady, perhaps you are unaware of the Code, but as stated in section seven, third paragraph from the top, 'Best friends are required to be present in times of great pain and/or emotion trauma.' If this doesn't count for trauma I don't know what does. As Faith's best friend I must be at her side. I am sorry if that goes against your procedures, but you'll have to make an appointment and take it up with the Board. Until the time which the Board chooses to change Section seven, third paragraph from the top there is nothing I can do." Cadence winked at Faith and looked innocently at the nurse.

"The Code? The Board?" the nurse asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah. The Best Friends Code. The Board of Best Friends. Very prestigious group," Cadence said.

"And what about you?" the nurse asked IT.

"Um. I'm the one that ran into her," IT said, pointing at Faith. "I just wanted to make sure she was okay."

"She will be," the nurse said, turning her back on the table and towards some cupboards. "I've got a junior on her way up here that has healing abilities. Faith will be as right as rain in a few minutes."

"Right as rain?" Cadence screeched. "Right as rain? There is nothing right about rain! Don't you watch the news, lady? Rain is so polluted that its acidity is off the charts! Rain eats away at metal these days!"

"Fine!" the nurse said. "Faith will be fine, good as new, peachy keen. She won't be anything like rain, okay? I'll be back in a moment." she walked towards the door and opened it, but turned back around before she left. "And don't touch anything."

As soon as the nurse left Cadence turned from Faith to look at IT. "So what's your issue?"

IT looked surprised at being addressed and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could reply Cadence continued. "Is your super power being an idiot? Did you knock out all your brain cells playing football? Seriously, how old are you? Three? Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with balls indoors?"

IT opened and closed his mouth, much resembling a fish out of water. "Listen, I realize that words are failing you at the moment. It looks as if words fail you constantly. You have probably never contributed to an actual conversation in your life. In fact, it seems conversation seems to run from you screaming for mercy." Cadence glared at IT, waiting for a reaction. "I just insulted you if you didn't get that."

"Um. Yeah. I got that."

"He speaks! Someone give him a cookie!" Cadence threw her hands up in the air and spun away from IT, rolling her eyes.

"I don't need this. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. The nurse said she'd be fine. It was an accident, alright. I'm outta here." IT brushed his curly brown hair back from his forehead and turned to leave.

"Aren't you going to apologize, you great oaf! Look at her, she's going to be sore for weeks! She won't be able to compete in her ice-skating competition this weekend and she was favored to make nationals! You might have ruined her skating career forever and you can't even manage an, 'I'm sorry.' You are a jerk! A jerk!" Cadence threw her arms around and raised her voice and stomped her feet.

"Whatever. You are one crazy chic. And I don't owe my apology to anyone but her. And she'll get it. When she's conscious." IT walked out the door without looking back.

"Cadence, do you really think all that was necessary? I mean, I haven't ice-skated since sixth grade. And calling him stupid wasn't exactly the best way to entice an apology out of him." Faith squirmed on the table, trying to find a comfortable position.

"You're right. But it was fun." Cadence started opening and closing the cupboards and rifling through the contents. "And no one should have to _entice_ him into offering an apology. He should be kissing the floor at your feet and waiting on your every whim. He scrambled your brains against your own locker!"

"My brains aren't scrambled and–" but whatever Faith was going to say was cut off by the entrance of the nurse and a tiny Asian girl with short, spiky black hair. Cadence closed the cupboard she had been nosing in and turned quickly, her face an mask of innocence.

"Don't give me that puppy-eyed look. I saw you going through my stuff. This is Katherine."

"Kat"

"This is Kat. She has astounding healing abilities and will help take away most of the injury, though I think you'll be sore for a few days." The nurse smiled apologetically.

"Yeah. So, like, I have to touch you. Like, don't move." Kat stepped around the nurse and rolled up the sleeves to her red, silky looking shirt. She looked Faith up and down, stuck the tip of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and touched Faith's arm.

Instantly, the pain was gone and relief coursed through Faith's body. A sigh found its way out of her mouth and a smile stretched across her face. "Wow. Thanks! I don't think I have ever felt so good in my life."

"Yeah. I get that a lot." Kat grinned down at Faith and then removed her hand. As soon as contact was severed though, some of the pain returned and a headache threatened right at the back of her skull. "I, like, took away the bruising and fixed the fracture in your arm and fingers. The cut on your head and the scrapes on your back are healed. Um, like, sorry, but that's the best I can do. Your body, like, needs to heal a bit on its own, or it would, like, go into shock."

"Thank you."

"Yes. Thank you." The nurse said.

"No problem. I, like, have to get back to class." Kat left and Faith wasn't far behind her. She walked slowly, trying to move as little as possible. Sudden movements hurt, so slow was the pace.

"...All I am saying is, Shakespear might be a genius and all, the whole world gets he can rhyme, but there are so many other plays out there! I would think that Mr. Saunders could pick something other than Hamlet. We can pull off The King and I, and it will be fun! But he can't possibly think that anyone is going to want to do Hamlet for the spring production. For Heavens sake..."

Cadence was on another one of her rants, which were not as unfrequent as one would think, or dare to hope. Faith had heard this one before and so she tune out, thinking about a smoldering pair of gray eyes.

She was sure Warren had been the one to pick her up as she passed out but she couldn't be sure why he had. He didn't seem the type to rush to the rescue of a damsel in distress. _In fact_, Faith thought, _he seems the type to be doing the distressing._

"...not to mention that he thinks the sun, the moon, and the stars revolve around him. Soon he is going to demand we call him Lord Saunders of Theatre as we wait on his every whim. 'Yes my lord Saunders, I shall get you that coffee. Of course Lord Saunders, I shall massage your bunions. I swear, my Lord Saunders of Theatre, my soul is yours for the taking...'"

Faith nodded appropriately and tried to look outraged at the drama teacher and head of the theater department's character. Mr. Saunders also taught Hero Monologues to those heros that had to deal with the media. He was very much the egotistical pig Cadence made him out to be, but Faith was hard pressed to care.

Cadence was her best friend, and Faith loved everything about her, from her loud, energetic attitude, to her crazy wardrobe, to her unfaltering dedication to everything she took on. Cadence meant the world to her, but no matter how hard she tried, Faith could not find within herself the interest Cadence had in theater.

"Wow, you really hit that locker hard."

They had arrived at Faith's locker, and it was literally folded in on itself. The door was open about an inch, but it was crammed shut, the hinges squished like play-dough. "There is no way I can get my stuff out of there, and the janitor is taking out these lockers tonight! All my books are in there!"

"Take a chill-pill Faith. I got it." Cadence closed her eyes and scrunched up her nose, concentrating on the ruined locker in front of her. A metallic haze started to surround her and paperclips and bobby pins flew through the air towards her, sticking to her person and floating around her in that haze.

Slowly, and with much high-pitched metal squealing, the locker door was forced open. Stray staples emerged from cracks and crevices and someone's abandoned metal lunch box found their way to Cadence. Faith could see, through the windows on the doors to the classrooms around her, desks being pulled across the linoleum floor towards Cadence as well, though they weren't able to actually attract to her, as safety pins had, because of the walls.

Cadence got the door open all the way and let the magnetic field she had created dissaperate and all the metal objects that gravitated to her dropped to the floor with a crash. The desks stopped trying to force their way through the walls, and the students in them rolled their eyes or laughed or sighed in relief and moved them back. Faith rushed forward and pulled all of her books off of the shelved of her ruined locker, stacking them lovingly in her arms.

"They survived. They're all fine!"

"My God, Faith. Their just books." Cadence rolled her eyes and helped Faith get all of her books in her arms. There were about fifteen, but Faith managed to hold them all. "You look like a worried mother, holding her children out of the water, lest they drown." Cadence laughed. "I am going to the scene shop. I'll meet you after school, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for your help Cadence."

"Bye, love." Cadence walked away, stepping around the pile of metal objects absentmindedly, her thoughts already on costumes, or memorized lines, or having to kiss that gross kid that made male lead.

Faith headed towards the library. She didn't have anywhere to be, and most of the seniors were probably in the cafeteria, hanging out and figuring out what sidekick was with who. Thank goodness she had been spared that...endeavor. She had the whole week to herself and she need a place to stow her books until her locker got fixed. The library was perfect.


	3. Better Tomorrows

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine.

Again, many thanks to those readers that took the time to review. I appreciate it and enjoy the motivation it gives me. The more reviews I get, the faster the story gets updates. (Hint. Hint.)

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Three, Better Tomorrows

Faith left her books in a locked cupboard behind the kindly librarians desk with the assurance that no one would get into them. It didn't take her long to find a book that looked interesting among the shelves and settle in a comfortable arm chair in a secluded corner. There was a weird fern tree beside her with papery leaves that resembled a palm tree. It grew up and over her head and made whispering noises every time she moved.

Lost in the pages of her book, it took Faith a moment to realize there was a person standing over her, watching her as she read. She raised her eyes, but not her face, and saw IT with a slight frown on his face and vertical wrinkles between his eyebrows.

She took a moment to study him before she acknowledged his presence. He was very tall, hence the name she had given him; Impossibly Tall. Faith guessed 6 feet 2 inches. He had to be at least 200 pounds, but he was not fat. Bulky maybe, with muscle showing, and that weight was offset by a broad shoulders and a trim waist.

IT had blue eyes and curly brown hair, cut an inch from his skull. His nose hooked down slightly and his eyebrows, which were thick to the point where they were almost bushy, turned up at the end. He was wearing a pair of jeans that didn't fit his just right, they bunched at the hips and didn't quite meet his tennis-shoes, which were brown and black and beige.

He was handsome in a Ken doll kind-of-way, though his face was too round for her liking. She supposed he was the boyfriend of some ballerina starlet with sweet features and an easy smile that said, "I just _love_ my baby."

"Can I help you?" Faith asked, her voice harder than she meant it to be.

"Oh. Um. Hey." IT said, shoving his hands in his pockets and smiling. "Um. I'm Jeremy, if you didn't know. The guy that ran into you."

"Yeah." Faith raised her whole face now and looked him in the eyes.

"I wanted to apologize for...you know..." His voice trailed off as he pulled a hand out of his pocket and waved it at her. "Sorry."

"Okay." Faith bent back to her book. A lock of her hair fell in front of her face and pooled on the pages. She raised her chin and brushed it away and saw that IT...Jeremy...was still standing over her. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I...um...want to know if there was anything I could do. To, you know, make up for bashing you up and all." Cadence was right, this guy was not a master of the art of conversation. He used a total of about twenty different words in the last five minutes.

"Do you have some Advil?" Faith asked, her tongue sharp with an anger she couldn't identify. She wasn't mad at him for running into her. It sucked, and shouldn't have happened, but there was no way to reverse it and avoid the situation. But for some reason, when she looked at Jeremy, she felt annoyed.

"Um. No."

"Then there really isn't anything you can do. Just stop playing football in the halls and smashing into people." Faith felt her hair rise with agitation.

"Okay. Sure." he turned to walk away. "Sorry." he said over his shoulder and left her to her book.

----------

Faith unlocked the front door to her house and slid into the cool, dark interior. She dropped her bag to the floor, threw her keys on a corner table, and slid out of her shoes. Her first day of school was over, and she was exhausted. She left the library as the last bell rang and met up with Cadence, spending the bus ride home listening to her complain about the costume choices for the upcoming production.

They got of the bus and parted ways, Cadence down Whitewood Lane and Faith towards Greenleaf Avenue. They lived in a subdivision in the east corner of Maxville and all the roads were named after elements of nature. It was almost sickening, but it was where she lived, and she loved it.

Her pappy wasn't home so Faith pulled some meat out of the freezer to thaw for spaghetti, grabbed a few Oreos and walked upstairs, wincing at the pain. She took a detour to the bathroom and grabbed some ibuprofen. Then she was off to her room, scarfing down the cookies and collapsing on her bed.

She looked around at her room. The walls and ceiling were a dark maroon and the ceiling was rag painted cream over the darker color. The trim and the carpet were cream colored as well. There was one low placed window in a corner with a carpet covered window seat, tasseled pillows thrown around it. The wall opposite her bed was completely covered with a floor to ceiling bookshelf and the shelves were crowded with books and nicknacks. There was a corner desk across from the foot of her bed, and a Dell laptop blinked and whizzed among an overflowing pile of papers and books.

The comforter on her bed was a maroon, cream, and green patterned quilt and under that was a green fleece blanket that Cadence had made her. Beneath that was two flannel blankets, one cream and one maroon, and finally, under that was a green top-sheet. Her two big pillows and her mattress had cream colored cotton cases and sheets. There were several decorative pillows that matched the quilt with fringe and tassels and other adornments that usually ended up on the floor, which was where they were headed at the moment.

Faith tossed the pillows and scrunched up the blankets until she had a comfortable nest, and then she pulled a large stuffed elephant from the space between the bed and the wall. The elephant, which was ragged and pink, was wearing a plaid flannel shirt that was obviously not meant for it.

The pink elephant was the first stuffed animal she ever received, it was gift from her parents from her first Christmas, and the shirt was one of her dads. He had thrown it to the ground before he left to deal with the Royal Pain wannabe and Faith had salvaged it from the mass cleaning her relatives had inflicted upon her home when her parents had died.

The shirt still smelled faintly of her father, and she hugged it at night when she was missing him. She was a bit to old for sleeping with stuffed animals but she felt so alone sometimes that she couldn't bear to put the elephant away. Faith tucked it under her head and fell asleep almost instantly.

She dreamed of stormy skies and fiery beasts and woke to find the house dark and silent. She crept downstairs and into the kitchen, where she found the counters covered in tomato sauce and the floor littered with hard spaghetti noodles.

_Pappy's eyes aren't what they used to be_, she thought with a hint of sarcasm as she surveyed the mess. She took out a dishrag and did her best to clean up, and then pulled the leftover spaghetti out of the fridge, heating it up and eating it in the dark.

Then she was off to bed again, wishing for a better tomorrow on her glow-in-the-dark stars.


	4. Movie Star Smiles

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine.

With many thanks to my reviewers. You are appreciated.

This chapter is dedicated to my best friend. Here's to chocolate covered styrofoam and late night wishes of Princes' in shining armor, riding up to a castle of dreams in a Harley. May we all find true love.

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Four, Movie Star Smiles

Faith was holed in the library, her nose between the pages of yet another book. The bell for lunch made her jump, the top of her head brushing against the leaves of the fern tree. She stretched and gave a slight wince at her sore back. Tuesday morning hadn't brought the greatest amount of relief from her locker crushing incident the day before, nor had a liberal amount of painkillers, but her arm no longer cracked weirdly when she moved and her eyes didn't swim in and out of focus when she spun her head around too fast.

Faith set her book aside with the intention of returning to the library after lunch and made her way to the cafeteria. Cadence found her at the door and Malorie blew kisses from the pop machine. Geraldine was already sitting at the table, her lunch spread out around her. Cadence joined Malorie at the pop machine and Faith got in the line for hot lunch. She walked with her tray picking the least threatening looking items and avoiding the salad. Last year Geraldine found a beatle in hers and it was still alive, so salad was off limits.

She reached for an apple juice, at exactly the same time someone else reached for it. "Oh. Sorry," she exclaimed, picking up an orange juice instead.

"No problem."

Faith turned and was startled to find herself looking up at Warren Peace. She studied his face. Again she was struck by his eyes, their dark gray color and the way they smoldered. They were gorgeous, as was the rest of him.

His high cheekbones, his defined jaw line with the shadow of a beard and mustache, his dark brows, his long black hair that just screamed, "Touch me, I'm silky!"

"You're holding up the line."

"Oh." Faith turned to pay and felt her face turn red. She stepped away from the register and turned towards Warren. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't exactly frowning either, so she took that as a good sign that he wasn't about to fry anything. "I wanted to say thanks, for yesterday. If you hadn't taken me to the nurse I don't think I ever would have gotten there." Warren looked at her, his eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed as if he was studying her, as she had just studied him a moment before. He nodded in acknowledgment of her gratitude while his eyes took in her face and her body.

The blush Faith had felt burn her face disappeared as she paled when she realized he was looking her over. She was not a beauty like Cadence, who, though short, had a luscious curvy body and dramatic features, or Malorie, who was exotic and very feminine.

Faith was tall, almost to the point of gangly, with obnoxiously long legs. Her arms were long as well, and her fingers too. A pianists fingers. She was skinny, with the barest hint of curves. She was mostly angles.

Her face was sharp, with a chin and nose that came to points and cheekbones that cut under her eyes in straight lines. Her forehead was high, her eyes big and bright under arched brows, her lips pink, the bottom slightly more plumper than the top, giving her an almost permanent pout. Her skin had an olive hue, and with the dark complexion her white hair and eyebrows stood out bright in contrast. In fact, her hair was the only thing Faith loved about her appearance, that and her long white eyelashes which framed her ice blue eyes.

Unfortunately, as Faith saw it, her skin was not flawless and her teeth were crooked. Her fingernails were bitten to the quick, ragged and scabbed. Her elbows were ashy, despite the lotion that she applied, and because of her constant use of lip gloss, if Faith neglected one application her lips cracked and peeled.

Faith chose that moment to suck in her bottom lip, to check and see that it wasn't scabby and gross. Thank God it wasn't, but she could feel the three new pimples she'd found that morning screaming for attention on her face. She grimaced and ducked her head, shaking her hair in front of her face, ashamed now that she had thought to talk to him.

She turned away and slunk towards her table. She would have to talk to him sometime, as they happened to be partners in a supers team, but she still had three days to avoid him and hope that she didn't grow completely repulsive in that time.

She set down her lunch and slid into her seat, keeping her shoulders hunched and her face lowered. Cadence turned towards her and picked up the orange juice on her tray, shaking it and biting a hole in the foil top, to take a sip.

"You don't mind, do you?" She asked holding up the juice. Faith shook her head and silently berated herself. What had made her think that getting partnered with Warren was a good idea? She should have picked a sidekick, like everyone else!

"Is anything wrong?" Cadence asked, setting down the juice.

Faith raised her head and forced away her pessimistic thoughts. "What's that?" she asked to avoid answering the question, pointing at an item of food in Geraldine's lunch.

Geraldine was the second oldest in a family of nine, and she despised her name. She changed it every week, along with her diet. This week she had chosen Fifi as her name, and her diet was one of protein. "It's a rice cake." Geraldine said picking up the object in question. "This one is chocolate flavored."

"Chocolate flavored?" Cadence asked, sticking her hand out for a piece to try. Chocolate was Cadence's favorite food group.

"Yeah, flavored. It's not real chocolate, but a flavored substitute. Sugar isn't good for you." Cadence stuck her tongue out at Geraldine and took a bite. Malorie, who lived on junk food, raised her Mountain Dew in a mock cheer and shoved a handful of Sour Patch Kids into her mouth, chewing in Geraldine's face.

"That is disgusting." commented Travis, Faith's best guy friend, followed by Matt, Kevin, Jonah, Grant, and Josh. Rosa wasn't far behind. She was in love with Josh, but he was oblivious. He only had eyes for Malorie, who, of course, had no idea he existed.

"No it wasn't. It was beautiful," Josh said plopping his pathetic excuse for a lunch on the table. His mom worked two part time jobs and usually forgot she had three growing boys in the house. They never had any food, and when they did it was tasteless health stuff. His mom turned vegan when she divorced their dad. That was another reason Josh was so enthralled with Malorie, she was practically made of junk food.

"No, it was disgusting!" Cadence threw the part of rice cake she hadn't eaten at Josh. "It was like styrofoam dipped in fake chocolate syrup! How can you eat that garbage Al?" She asked Geraldine, using her nickname.

"It's Fifi, and I eat it because it's healthy. You wouldn't hurt to try it either! Your body is probably drowning in fats and sugars, screaming for help." Geraldine looked at Cadences lunch and shuddered.

"Why would you want to be addressed as Fifi? Isn't that a dog name?" Grant asked, ever the instigator.

"No!" Geraldine growled. "It is a french form of Josephine."

"More like the french form of 'Ugly, hairy dog." Grant said, getting snickers from the guys and groans from the girls.

Faith listened to her friends argue and banter and picked at her food, wishing for Cadences curves or Geraldine's completely clear skin or Rosa's movie star smile. She finally abandoned her lunch and retreated to the library to find solace in her book.


	5. Love Under the Fern Tree

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine.

Gratitude goes to my reviewers.

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Five, Love Under the Fern Tree

The library was silent, the only movement coming from the lone librarian as she dusted shelves. Faith was lost in her book, her lunchtime musings forgotten as she followed the tragic saga of two characters in love, separated by a vicious social caste system and unable to pursue the life they so desperately wanted.

The story was touching and romantic, and Faith got swept up in the current of the plot, so like all other romance novels with trashy covers, but easy to love anyway. The fern tree brushed the top her head occasionally, or her forehead or shoulders, and she batted it away impatiently.

The librarian was dusting a shelve nearby when Faith batted at fern for what felt like the millionth time. "Oh, don't mind her dear, she's just nosey."

"Nosey?" Faith asked.

"Well of course she's nosey. Dear me, she's been a fern for the last twenty years!" The librarian cackled that old lady laugh that all old ladies have and waved her feather duster around. "A student got angry with her and zapped her a good one, and no ones been able to turn her back. Poor dear, she only wants to read what it is you're reading. She doesn't get much action."

"You mean...that's a person!" Faith jumped up and shivered, shaking out the leaves that got stuck in her hair and backing up with a look of horror on her face until she bumped into something very solid. She figured it was a book shelve, until strong arms flew to her shoulders to steady her and stop her from falling.

"Thank you," she managed to croak out. She turned and felt all her gratitude crumble away. _No, not crumble. That is much to pleasant. Any thanks I felt for you just spontaneously combusted, caught fire, and threw itself off a cliff! _she thought.

Jeremy stood over her and smiled, having no idea of her thoughts. He was completely oblivious to the disgust that radiated off of Faith in waves, the contempt that steeled her eyes and made them hard. The air around the couple dropped temperature as Faith struggled to control her powers.

Strong emotion ripped away any self control she had, and the abhorrence she was feeling about Jeremy was definitely strong.

"You look beautiful."

Shock forced Faith to abandoned her attempt to gain control of her powers. Her face went slack and her eyes got wide. _Was he talking about me?_

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just drop that out there like that. I was just thinking, wow that girl is beautiful and it just popped out of my mouth." He smiled. "I came in here to see how you were feeling, though I don't know why you spend so much time in here. It's freezing!"

Faith forced the temperature around her to rise, all the while staring at Jeremy, trying to put her feelings back in order. He was talking again, so she tried to focus on his words, rather than her confusion.

"...and I figured I kinda owed you, for smashing you up and all, and that, well... There's a new band playing at the Crippled Inn downtown and I thought maybe you would come along with me and the team. As my date."

Again, Faith scrambled to gauge her feelings. She opened her mouth to say, "I don't know, that doesn't sound like a good idea," but Jeremy cut her off before she could get out the first word.

"You don't have to answer now if you're not sure. The band isn't playing 'till next week." He smiled and then, not so tactfully, changed the subject. "Whacha readin'?"

Faith looked down at the book in her hand. There was a half-naked man on the front, his arms around a lady with a plunging neckline, her head thrown back and her hair whipping in the wind. In the background a sea raged in a storm, and the curving, metallic letters at the top all but screamed, "Trashy Romance!"

"The newest Nora Roberts." Faith really wasn't in the mood to get into the details. In fact, she was no longer in the mood for a romance. She needed Cadence.

Making her excuses, Faith fled the library and rushed to the auditorium, hoping against hope that her best friend would be there.

----------

"Okay, run it by me again. What exactly did he say?"

Faith ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. They'd been over this already. "He said, 'You look beautiful.'"

"And how did he–" Someone yelled for Cadence from the stage. She turned in her seat and yelled back, "I told you, I'M BUSY! BOTHER SOMEONE ELSE! I AM NOT THE ONLY CAPABLE, INELEGANT PERSON IN THIS PLACE. FOR GOD'S SAKE, TAKE SOME INITIATIVE!" Cadence rolled her eyes and turned back to Faith, who was taking her fingers out of her ears. Cadence was as loud as sin, and it had nothing to do with her power. It was pure talent.

Once, in the beginning of their junior year, Boomer was yelling about how important physical fitness was to "you wimps," as he so delicately put it. Cadence grew tired of his speech and convinced Matt to reenact the fight scene from Romeo and Juliet. Faith had quickly sculpted rapiers of ice and laughed until it hurt as two of her friends fought and yelled at the top of the bleachers in old, Shakespearian English. Cadence had been able to match Boomer decibel for decibel until he blew her into the wall and broke two of her ribs.

Faith smiled at the memory, and how angry Cadences parents were when they found out what Boomer had done. Her mom blew up a corner of the gym and her dad broke Boomers nose and one of his fingers in payment for "busting up his little girl." Boomer had two black eyes for weeks, though Cadence was patched up in no time. The supers have their own hospital with healers aplenty, and Cadence's mom rushed her off to the emergency room, but not before she kicked Boomer in the knee with her steel-toed boots. (Her mom worked with dynamite in a demolition and construction company. She had about thirty pairs of shoes special made with steel toes and heels, because she didn't like the kind supplied by company she worked for. She said they were ugly.)

Principal Powers was so disgusted with the whole ordeal that she forgot to punish Cadence for her theatrics and insubordination, and so in celebration of a punishment-free prank, and the fact that Boomer was out of school for a month (he was too proud to go to the hospital and get healed quickly), Cadence brought ice cream for the whole gym class.

"Okay, so how did he say it? Like, God, I have never seen anything so gorgeous in my life and I would throw myself in the path of an oncoming freight train just to see your face one last time? Or was it more like, your butt looks kinda funny, but I suppose you'll do, here's a compliment to keep you happy?" Faith narrowed her eyes at Cadence. "I need to know how he said it!"

"He said it like...I don't know. Like he was thinking it but wasn't going to say it, and it just popped out of his mouth. He looked like he meant it though." Faith said.

"And what did he say after that."

"He apologized for just throwing that at me. He said he had come in the library to see if I was feeling any better and that he owed me, for running into me yesterday. He asked me to go to the Crippled Inn with him, as a date, because the whole team was going."

"So he is taking pity on you, because he 'owes you.' Don't go. Tell him to stuff his face in a toilet and flush." Cadence crossed her arms and huffed.

"But Cadence..." Faith trailed off. She had never been on a real date, had never actually kissed a guy, and she was seventeen. She was, at the moment, feeling like a freak. This date was an opportunity to finally do the things she'd been dreaming about since she turned twelve. Jeremy might not be the most desirable of characters, but he was better than a cardboard cutout.

"But what?"

"I don't know. It's just..." Faith trailed off again, struggling to put into words what she felt.

_Cadence has a different boyfriend for everyday of the week, she wouldn't understand what it's like to dream of romance and never get it, to watch your friends fall in love and never have it. Barbie gets more action than me, and she's a freaking plastic doll!_

"Alright, that is enough I see that look, that 'oh pity me, poor Faith' look."

Faith's eyes bulged._ How dare she!_

"I get it, okay. Your life sucks. Your parents are gone, your only company a senile old man that can only talk of his failing body parts. You were overprotected as a kid, and now that you have complete freedom to do as you wish, you're too scared to try any of it. You hole up in your room all day, the covers over your head, trying to escape a reality that bears down on you. I get it. I watched all summer as you struggled to fit your life into a pattern you could recognize. Your at a place now that the only emotion you can deal with is pity, shame, and disappointment.

"But it's getting to the point where I cannot stand to be around you anymore. You're not the girl that helped me with all my pranks, and came up with more than half of them by herself. You're not the girl that helped me sneak out to meet Anthony, who was off limits because he was seven years older. You're not Faith anymore. The Faith I knew wouldn't settle for second best because that was all that was around at the moment. Well more like third best, or fourth best, or really fifth best–"

"I get it already."

"The closest I've seen you to the old Faith was when you decided you didn't want an SK and got partnered with Peace. There was a determined gleam in your eye and a smile on your face. Now your back to moping around and hating yourself. You're making me depressed and I just can't be around it anymore. If you go out with Jeremy your just going to hate yourself even more and it's only the second day of school. I'm not going to spend my senior year with a zombie, Faith, and that's what you've become."

"Are you done?" Faith asked, trying to keep the tears out of her voice. She wasn't going to cry anymore, even if every harsh word Cadence said rang true.

"Yeah, I think, I just–" Someone called for her again and Cadence stood, whipping around and throwing out her arms. The kid on stage saw the metallic gleam in the air just in time to jump out of the way as Cadence ripped a row of metal lights from the base of the stage and threw them at him, the air shimmering with her power. "I TOLD YOU, I AM BUSY! IN CASE YOU HAVE NOT NOTICED, THERE HAPPENS TO BE A BEST FRIEND CONFERENCE GOING ON AT THIS PARTICULAR MOMENT! I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR YOUR STUPID SOPHOMORE SHIT! GROW UP AND MAKING SOME FUCKING DECISIONS FOR YOURSELF AND NEXT TIME I SAY LEAVE ME ALONE, DO IT!"

Faith smiled weakly as Cadence sat down, breathing heavy. The lights were ruined, but the school had extras of everything in storage. There would be new ones there tomorrow.

"I think this would be the right time for me to make my exit," Faith whispered, her head bowed and her arms clasped.

"Yeah, alright. Call me later, okay."

"Okay." Faith said as she fled.

----------

"Hey Pappy," Faith said as she walked in the door. She dropped her keys and her bag and shed her shoes. Walking to the kitchen she found her grandpappy with his head in the kitchen fridge, muttering to himself.

He stood, scratching his head over something, and Faith walked over and hugged him from behind. "Good gracious! Faith, don't sneak up on me like that! My hearts isn't what it used to be!"

She grabbed a snack and walked up to her room, grabbing a novel off of her shelve and settling into bed. She pulled the covers around and settled against her pillows. She would think on what Cadence said, and she would call her later, but right now she was going to fall into the pages of a book and try to forget it all.


	6. The Smell of Soap

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine.

Kudos and much bowing to my reviewers.

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Six, The Smell of Soap

The next two days passed in a blur of color and sounds, and the smell of soap. Cadence was right, Faith needed to get her act together and pull out of the slump she had fallen into. She started by cleaning her room.

It had been left untouched since her parents deaths, and it was a mess. Everything got torn off the shelves and the walls and everything was washed, dusted, shined, and put back in an organized manner. Curtains were pulled down and washed, carpet was vacuumed, drawers were upended and sorted. The bed was stripped and washed, the wood polished, and the glass cleaned. Faith found little trinkets and jewelry and clothes she had forgotten she had in corners and under furniture.

Even her desk, which had always been a mess, was organized, the papers filed and sorted and the pencils sharpened and stacked. When she was finished her room gleamed with cleanliness and Faith was left with a clean feeling herself. As she wiped down walls and dusted corners she scoured her mind and heart, washing away months of pain and confusion and pity. She felt as clean and fresh as her room looked, and by Friday she was felling _as good as_ new, if not completely new.

She spent the days at school in the library, avoiding her friends by eating lunch in a secluded corner, where the librarian couldn't see her. She read for some of the time, but mostly she just sat and thought.

What she thought about ranged from that days breakfast to the afterlife, and the thoughts she had made her feel more like herself again. She used to do her best not to think, but now her mind sped. Faith never did call Cadence, but she didn't ignore her best friends comments.

She decided that she didn't want to go out with Jeremy, and that second best was not good enough for her. Faith would wait, as long as it took, for the right guy to come along, and Jeremy was _not_ that guy. Maybe he would be a good friend, if she could learn to stop shuddering with disgust every time she saw him.

She woke up Friday with a smile and a song (though she could carry a tune in a bucket) and arrived at school ready to take on the world. Cadence wasn't on the bus so Faith made her way to the auditorium to say hello. Cadence was on stage directing backstage help that were moving around set pieces. A girl with telekinesis held half a building up as someone painted the bottom and a string of lights blinked on and off, even though it wasn't plugged in.

"Good morning Cadence!" Faith called. Cadence waved in her general direction and continued to direct theater traffic. Faith left and found her way to the library, where she searched the shelves for something that she hadn't read yet and didn't look as if it would insult her intelligence.

She made her way to her new corner, as the old was one was occupied by a library lady turned plant, and was startled to see someone already occupying the armchair. A Warren Peace somebody.

Faith made to turn away, but changed her mind and walked up to him, pulling a chair from nearby and sitting down next to him. She set her book on her lap and cleared her throat. Warren looked up at her, without moving his head, and raised an eyebrow in question.

Faith was struck with the similarity of Warren's pose and the pose she had held just a few days earlier with Jeremy. It was almost exact. Instead of being intimidated, as she had hoped Jeremy would be, and as she guessed Warren hoped she would be, she smiled and pointed at his book. "You're not going to like that."

Warren cocked another eyebrow but didn't raise his head, nor did he give any comment. "Well I guess I have no idea what you like, but I found it insanely boring. The Once and Future King is not as great as many people make it out to be. I love stories about King Arthur, but not that one."

Faith looked at Warren, waiting for a reply and very sure she was not going to get one. "Well that's alright. You're going to have to talk to me eventually as we are partners and all." Warren didn't say anything. "Oooookay. My friends said that with two years of companionship with Commander Junior and the Flower Child under your leather belt your conversation skills would be a bit more remarkable. Everyone knows how much they chatter, but it seems your were spared that...pleasant experience." That got the tiniest of smirks from Warren but otherwise he ignored her.

"Well, I'm just going to sit here and read. You're in the chair I usually use, so..." Faith trailed off. She settled into her chair, striving for a comfortable position. She opened her book with a snap and pretended to read as she studied him. He ignored her.

Faith flopped around in her chair trying to find the comfortable spot that was doing so well at evading her. She ended up with her feet flopped over the top of the chair, her back resting on the seat, and her head on the floor, her hair pooled around her in a pillow, just to get a reaction out of Warren. She didn't get one.

It was in that position, starting at the ceiling, that a large face sprung into her view. "Hi!"

Faith gave a squeak and tumbled out of the chair, ending up sprawled at Warren's feet. "Jeremy." She growled, her brows furrowed in disgust as she tried to get her hair to fall in the same direction.

"Hey Faith." He looked at Warren. "Who's that?"

"Are you kidding me?" She asked, standing up and looking back at Warren. He didn't know who Warren Peace was? A small ball of fire ignited in Warren's palm, and he flicked it at Jeremy, setting fire to the football jersey he never seemed to be without.

"What the fuck, dude!" Jeremy exclaimed patting at his shirt. Faith threw Warren a look of exasperation and turned back to Jeremy, reaching out a hand and touching his shirt. The fire went out as the shirt turned to ice and back. "You're a 'Zen? Cool. And you must be Peace, the famous pyro." He looked at Faith, "Can I talk to you in private?"

Faith stood and walked a few feet from Warren, standing with her hands on her hips. Nothing in her body language invited Jeremy to be friendly, but he was, as usual, oblivious. "I wanted to know if you decided about next weekend." He said his hand on her arm.

She shook him off. "Yeah, I thought about it, Jeremy. And I don't think it's a good idea."

Jeremy's face got hard. "Why?" He demanded.

Faith turned away to walk back to her seat and said, "I don't know, I just don't."

"That's not good enough!" Jeremy's hand shot out and wrapped around her arm, whipping her around and pulling her towards him.

"It'll have to be 'good enough'" Warren spoke for the first time that day. He stood and walked towards them, his arms smoking threateningly. Faith shot Warren a look and turned to Jeremy, who had not let go of her arm. If anything, his grip tightened as he glared at Warren. Faith forced the temperature in Jeremy's arm to drop to frostbite cold and forced her foot to turn diamond hard as she stomped on his instep and pulled her arm away. He howled in pain and anger.

When he let go of her arm, Faith forced the temperature in his hand to return to its normal temperature. There wouldn't be any permanent damage to his hand, it wasn't cold enough, long enough, but his foot would be bruised for a while, if it wasn't broken as she suspected. "Do not grab me Jeremy. Ever. I am not yours to grab." Faith hissed in a low voice, but she knew he heard her.

She walked the few steps to her chair and grabbed her book and started to walk towards the exit. She stopped a few steps away from the door, turned around and walked back to Warren. "I do not need your chivalry, Warren. I can take care of myself." She spat in his face, though she had to stand on tiptoe to do it. She spun around and walked out of the library, her long hair spinning behind her.

Warren just smirked.


	7. The First Week

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine.

Again, I must thank my reviewers. With out them...well, use your imagination.

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Seven, The First Week

Faith fled to the bathroom, though she did her best not to run. She slid into a stall, set down the toilet lid, and sat, careful to pull her hair over her shoulder and let it fall in her lap, lest it pick up something gross.

She could not believe it. She just couldn't. A tear tried its best to escape and slide freely down her face but she squeezed her eyes shut and refused, absolutely _refused _to let it fall. She had promised herself she wasn't going to cry anymore, even if it was but one tear.

A boy had grabbed her, with malicious intent. She almost went out on a date with that boy. Faith shuddered and felt a wave of affection for Cadence. She pulled up her sleeve and looked down at her arm where Jeremy had grabbed her. There was a purple tinged, hand shaped bruise forming under her skin, and you could clearly see it, despite her dark complexion.

He had frightened her, really scared her out of her wits for a few moments that lasted longer than they should have. She felt hopeless, unable to take control of the situation, just as she had felt when she first heard of her parents deaths, floundering to find something to grasp and _control_.

But Jeremy had taken that control away, long enough to get her heart beating loud and fast with panic. And then Warren had spoken, just a few simple words that she couldn't even remember now, and she felt that control come rushing back to her. She was Faith Winters, and a Winters never permitted others to push them around. Never.

Three years of attending Sky High had prepared her for just a situation-for a threat-and she took action. It felt good to become her own defender, because Cadence wasn't there to do it for her as she usually was. It felt good to have control on a situation where she had previously been ready to give up. And then she remembered Warren, and how he stood to what she was positive was her defense. His arms were still smoking, and a few occasional flames licked his jacket.

_He had risen to protect me_, Faith thought and it made her angry. _I can take care of myself, I have to. I can't keep relying on everyone else to look out for poor, moping, frail Faith. I'm not like that anymore, I refuse to be! _

Faith had hissed at him to mind his own, and let her look after herself, but she felt silly now. He was her partner, and they had to learn to work together. That meant that there were times when he was going to have to save her butt from trouble, as she was going to have to do for him.

That thought made her smile, Faith rushing out to rescue Warren Peace, the famous bad boy that had proved time and time again that he could hold his own, and then took the consequences without complaining. Faith promised herself that she would find a way to make this work, because she could not lose control again. And if she didn't acknowledge the fact that it was Warren's voice that gave her that control, that was because she was too busy finding her way to the cafeteria, to find her friends and eat something covered in chocolate.

----------

Her friends were glad to see her closer to her old self and Cadence bought pop for everyone in celebration. Even Al took a small sip for Faith, though it looked like it pained her to swallow it.

After lunch all the seniors made their way to the gym, where sidekicks and heros would be matched and briefed, before the rest of the school joined for Save the Citizen. Principal Powers arrived in a sparkle of light and gave a short speech on cooperation and tolerance. Faith tuned out until she started to name pairs.

Cadence, whose last name was Allington, was one of the first to get paired. Her sidekick was a girl named Grace. Grace could force the fingernails of anyone to grow at about an inch an hour. Not completely impressive, except around Homecoming and prom, when girls wanted nice looking nails, but Grace was a genius with computer science, and technology in general. Technology was Cadence's weakness. Because of her magnetic field, she couldn't get anywhere near the tech labs. She knew close to nothing about computers so it was ideal that her sidekick did.

And that is how the rest of the afternoon went. A pair was called by Powers. That pair stood up, walked to the podium, received a booklet and a moment of whispered instruction, and then returned to the bleachers. Most people returned to their group of friends, but a few pairs found seats together. Faith paid little attention except when her friends were called.

Then, finally, Warren was called. And then she was called. Instantly, the gym quieted of all the whispered conversations and everyone turned to stare as Faith stood and walked to the podium. She strode up the few steps to the top and tried to ignore Warrens presence.

Then she tripped.

Faith wasn't sure what she tripped on, only that one moment she was walking towards Principal Powers and the next the floor was rising to meet her face. And just as suddenly she was upright, a warm arm around her waist.

"Careful," a delicious voice whispered in her ear. It was like chocolate, the voice, dark and rich, but also a bit raw and scratchy. _Like a Nestle Crunch Bar_, she thought with a grin. She turned that grin to her savior, and found herself inches from Warrens face.

He slid his arm from her waist and gave a gentle push to the small of her back in one easy, unseen motion. The whole thing didn't take but a few seconds, and no one in the bleachers saw what had happened. Faith didn't even hear what Mrs. Powers was saying to them, she was too focused on the burning spot on her back and the feel of a whisper on her neck.

She mechanically accepted a booklet and felt herself walk off stage. She didn't really wake up until she sat back down next to Cadence and felt Travis start to play with her hair. It might have been weird if Faith hadn't know Travis since second grade, when she pulled down his pants on the playground. He was just a touchy-feely kind of guy, and he was always astounded at how long it was. It was something he did absentmindedly whenever he was close to her.

Faith sighed at the feeling of Travis's fingers running through her hair and didn't even try to pay attention to the Save the Citizen game that had started when the rest of the school entered the gym. Instead, she scooted back on her seat and lay her head in Travis's lap.

He bent he face down and said, "A guy came up and asked me about you."

Faith spun around and looked at Travis, really looked at him. She scrunched up her eyes and tried to find a trace of evidence that he was joking. She couldn't find one.

"Who was it?" she asked

"I don't know, some guy. He asked me for your phone number."

"You didn't give it to him, did you?" Faith yelped. It could have been Jeremy and she really didn't want him to know her phone number, or anything about her really.

"Um, no! What do you take me for, an amateur. I was briefed on the whole, 'Strange Guy Asks Best Friend For Phone Number' by Cadence." Travis grinned. "I told him if he really wanted to know he could ask you. He didn't seem to like that, but he didn't have much of a choice because Matt threatened to smash his face in if he didn't find someone else to harass."

Faith let out a sigh of relief and turned back around. The Save the Citizen game ended and school was let out. The first week of her senior year was over, and a weekend that promised rest and relaxation was just around the corner.

It's funny how easily promises are broken.


	8. A Frozen Diamond

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine. 

It never gets old, does it? **Thank You**, to my reviewers.

A note: I am so sorry this has taken so long to become a chapter. I have several excuses (which includes my modem getting fried during a thunderstorm…) but I will spare you all and just beg for your forgiveness. I know how it feels to get into a fic and then watch as it falls off the edge of cyber space.

Another note: I want everyone to realize that I am not, in anyway, bashing on fan fics with gothic OC's. I have read quite a few really good ones, and I have enjoyed them, but I thought it was due time for something different, because most of those fics, though good, were repetitive. A Mary Sue, before she becomes a Mary Sue, is actually a really cool character. So cool, in fact, that she gets copied over and over until she is no longer a character but some kind of twisted blow up doll without any distinguishable features. No one needs to spend the time trying to persuade me otherwise or make exceptions for themselves, because you aren't doing anything worthy of an exception. Be proud of your writing, and damn to the depths any that feel different. Just realize before you do any damning, that I am not one of those people.

And now onto our Feature Presentation…

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Eight, A Frozen Diamond

Faith was sitting in the Maxville public library, a stack of books piled on the table in front of her. She was tutoring a little boy and trying in vain to find enough patience to tell him, again, that a noun was a person, place, or thing, and yes the word thing is a noun.

She applied a fourth coat of lip-gloss in her agitation and picked at the nail polish she had applied that morning. What had possessed her to do this? What made her think that tutoring was a good form of mental exercise?

She shuddered as the little boy picked his nose and smeared it across her purse. That thing is headed for the garbage disposal as soon as I get home. "Alex, please stop eating the notes I gave you and focus. You only have a few more minutes and then I promise I will take you down to the park. Please," Faith wheedled with her charge. She felt a headache ready to pounce and whipped out her gloss again, careful to avoid the nose gold Alex had so graciously granted her purse.

"Okay. A noun is a thing. A thing is a noun. Can we go now?" Alex was kind of pudgy and when he spoke his freckled cheeks jiggled. Faith sighed.

"No! A noun is also a…You know what? Let's go."

"Great! I want to go down the slide, and ride the merry-go-round, and try the swings, and go across the monkey bars, it would be so cool to be a monkey, only I hate bananas so I might starve and then I would die and become lion food and that would be sooooo cool! I wonder what it would feel like to be pooped out by a lion…" Alex continued to jabber about the feces of zoo animals but Faith tuned him out and picked up her purse with two fingers, holding it as far away from her as possible. She looked at the mess that was her notes for Alex, but they were mostly paste because Alex had chewed on them and spit them out all over the table.

Giving a silent apology to whoever ended up cleaning up the salvia and paper mess, because it certainty wouldn't be her, Faith steered Alex towards the door, letting him run ahead of her to the park next to the library.

He headed straight for the swings and hummed a tuneless song as he pumped his chubby little legs to get the swing off the ground. Faith sat on the swing to his left and spun around, letting the chain twist up and then untwist, whipped her hair around and placing a foolish smile on her face.

She forgot how much fun it was to play around.

"You know, usually a swing goes back and forth. Not around in circles."

Faith started and threw out her feet to stop her twisting. She tossed her hair away from her face in annoyance and glared at the source of the interruption of her euphoria. It was Jeremy. What a surprise.

"How did you know I would be here?" She asked with detestation.

"Well, mostly I figured that you spend all your time at the school library so if you had free time you'd be at the city library." He grinned. "And I was right."

"Yes. Congratulations. Some one should give you a medal." Faith sneered. She stood up and brushed at her skirt, smoothing the out the folds and her aggravation with the same forceful swipes. She looked up and saw Jeremy puzzling over what she had said. Maybe he just didn't get the concept of sarcasm, she thought. She shook her head in disbelief at the depths of his stupidity and turned to walk away.

She saw Alex walking on the monkey bars, skipping across the thin metal beams with incredible grace and gasped as he did a front flip off of the end and landed on his hands in a perfect handstand.

"Alex! Not in public! You should know better!" She screeched as she ran towards him, looking around to see if anyone else had witnessed the little boy's amazing gymnastics.

"But Faith," he whined, drawing out her name in a high pitched voice that came out sounding like, "FaAAAiiiiiithhhhh!" She scooped him up in a quick sweep of her arms and peered into his teary eyes. "Alex. Come on now. How many times has your mom told you not to show off? Huh? No one is supposed to know that you have super powers, and when she finds out you are going to be in so much trouble!"

"But Faith," he wheedled again, "You're not going to tell her, are you? Please don't tell on me. Please! I promise I won't do it anymore. I really, really promise!" Alex stuck out his bottom lip and made it quiver while his blue eyes got bigger in a mask of complete and utter innocence.

Faith pretended to think it over and hmmed and hawed until she was sure Alex was scared enough to behave for at least the rest of the afternoon and then sighed. "Okay. I guess I can keep this one secret, but you had better behave or…else."

"I promise!" Alex said, the squealed as Faith started to tickle him. "Stop it! Don't! Stopit stopit stopit!" He giggled. She finally let him go and he ran off to the slide.

"Hey, you really know how to handle those little dudes." Jeremy said with appreciation.

"I thought I left you over by the swings." Faith hissed between her teeth without looking at him.

"Yeah, I thought you forgot about me or something."

"If only," she muttered under her breath.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing Jeremy. What do you want?"

"Oh, yeah! I came to ask you if you changed your mind about going to the Crippled Inn with me and the team."

Faith took a step back and ground her teeth and clenched her fists and all but stomped her feet and screeched in utter repulsion and incredulity. What was wrong with this guy?

"Um. Look. Jeremy." She took a deep, almost calming breath and tried her best to smile. She buried her hands in her skirt so he wouldn't see her clenching them and took a tentative step closer. "I am flattered that you asked me out." She crossed her fingers a sent a silent prayer to God to forgive her for her trespasses. "I really am. It is just that, when I said that I didn't think it would be a good idea to go out with you…and, ah, the football team I really meant it."

Jeremy cocked his head, much resembling a puppy doing its best to understand its owner, and said, "But why? Are you busy next Saturday?"

"Ah…no."

"Okay, so you can go then!"

"NO! I mean, no, Jeremy. No, I can't go. It just isn't a good idea that's all. It just isn't"

"Why? Do you have a boyfriend or something? It's not Peace is it?" He laughed. "You could do so much better than that." He puffed out his chest as if he was the so much better she could do. Faith shuddered.

"No. I am not going out with Warren. I just…look. My parents died at the beginning of the summer, all right? I just can't do the whole dating thing right now. I have…um…suppressed psychological problems. Yeah. And, uh, all sorts of manic depressant, sociopathic issues. I just can't go out. I, uh, have to many therapy videos I need to watch and, ah, wrist slitting I need to catch up on. So…sorry."

Jeremy looked a little lost. "Wow. I am really sorry about your parents. You know, I think I heard about that on the news. Dude! I should have asked you about your feelings and stuff! Man, I am just not with it. Hey, you know what? I should make it up to you. I could some over and share emotions and stuff with you. We could watch your psycho videos together."

"What part about I can not, do not want to, and WILL NOT go out with you seems to be escaping your attention? Jeremy, seriously?"

"Hey. You don't need to bitch at me. I get it okay! I will give you a few weeks or whatever to get over your dead parents. And then I will—"

Faith drew herself up to her tallest height and felt her body go hard with complete hatred. Her hair crackled with icicles and her eyes flashed an arctic silver. Her skirt froze over and the air around her stopped moving as the temperature plummeted. "HOW DARE YOU!!!!" She roared with an unrivaled fury. "HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING!"

She pulled her hand back with the full intention of slapping him in the face with the power of a frozen diamond, but he beat her to the punch. He grabbed her hand and whipped her around, one hand holding her arms over her head and the other clutching her waist.

"Let go of me you bastard!" She yelled.

"Calm down! Faith, take a freaking chill pill. Faith!" But she wouldn't listen. She threw her head back and smashed him in the nose. He screamed and threw her away from him, his hands flying to his face, blood squirting out between his frantic fingers.

Faith was so full of adrenaline that she couldn't just run away. She lashed out from where she had landed on the ground and kicked one of his legs out from under him, not even stopping when she heard his bone shatter with a loud snap. Screaming even louder, Jeremy forgot his nose and crumpled to the ground, cradling his mess of a leg.

And the noise, oh God the noise. Faith tore at her hair, and began to sob with fear and the screams that echoed in her head. She threw out a pure surge of frozen power and yelled as it ripped through her body and seared her skin with air so cold in burned.

Then there was silence. A great, blessed silence that exemplified her pain to the point where it no longer hurt at all, it was just numb. And a small freckled face swam into her teary view and said, "I thought we weren't supposed to use our powers in public."


	9. For Reasons Unexplained

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine. 

A curtsy or two (or three) for my reviewers, most especially phyremage who nagged about the need for an update with more enthusiasm than truly necessary, but was appreciated just the same.

I must admit that I was incredibly surprised to see the mixed views from people on the reviews they gave me. Not that I am complaining! (I would probably never update if I thought no one cared.) I would like to touch on a few things (not defensively I hope) to explain myself, to assure my readers, and to point out that I have a method to my madness. And please don't take offense if I signal you out.

"…dialogue most frequently ends with commas, such as this:

Right:  
"Screw you, I'm not Mary-Sue," Faith said.

Wrong "Screw you, I'm not Mary-Sue." Faith said."

I agree with you most completely that dialogue frequently ends with a comma to indicate that someone is speaking and that someone will be identified. BUT—when I end my sentences I want there to be definitive punctuation so that the reader can infer how the character is speaking. As well, I rarely (at least I think so…) have a character speak and then end with a simple tag. There is most always an explanation of action in a separate sentence. That is just the style I write in. I appreciate that you pointed it out, I truly do, but I believe that if you know the rules you can break them.

"Anyway - how long is Jeremy going to last? I don't know, the idea of the OC character with the 'stalker' seems a bit old..."

To be honest, I have no idea how long Jeremy is going to last, and he is not really a stalker. I don't think he is smart enough to be a stalker—he doesn't have the gumption or the intelligence. He really just doesn't get it. And as obnoxious as he is, he is a necessary character. He brings emotions in Faith that will eventually be in direct contrast with her feelings for Warren. He makes her do things that she later regrets, and it is Faiths complex emotional and mental journey that makes her a "real" person. As well, Warren will be the alpha in this story, but I don't want Faith to come off as a weak character. She needs to have a little bit of her own strength, and Jeremy brings that out in her.

"Sorry hon, but MARY-SUE."

I realize that at the end of chapter 8 Faith has just shown the extent of her power. And yes she is very powerful—BUT it is important that my readers realize that Faith is a Hero and she has to have the power to prove it. As well, she was in a highly distressed emotion state. Volatile, if you will. And her surge of power was a rare occurrence. She is not all-powerful. She is a 'zen, and there are many powers that could trump hers (ironically, Warren's power is one of them, and the most obvious). Do not be so fast to jump the gun until you have read this chapter. I wouldn't have written my summery like I did if I didn't think I could take on the challenge.

And now, what you have all been waiting for…

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Nine, For Reasons Unexplained

Faith sat in the ER waiting room, clutching at her purse and twisting her hair. She reclined in a hard backed chair; though reclined is a relative word that really didn't describe how she sat. She was not in the remotest sense comfortable, her head pounded and her butt ached and her chest was tight with worry and guilt.

Rocking slightly, Faith let out a tiny moan of despair and felt her eyes begin to tear up. She felt so awful. A few of the people in the park had seen what happened and called 911 with more concern for her that for the man they saw "beat her up."

But really he hadn't.

He just grabbed her and she overreacted was all. It was completely her fault, and she should have reacted better, with more sense and…oh what must Alex think of her now? He was so young and impressionable and he must hate her now.

Though he hadn't seemed to upset with her on the ambulance ride over. He hopped around, trying to get his hands on everything, and kept saying, "This is sooooo cool!" He had quieted a bit when the police showed up and began to question everyone.

All of the people from the park jumped at the chance to assure the officers that Faith had only defended herself when "that guy" had manhandled her. Each and every one of those people had exclaimed over how well Faith had handled the situation, and how she didn't lay a blow on the boy that he didn't deserve.

They were wrong, though. As she tried to explain to the police, she had overreacted, and Jeremy had not deserved to be hurt so badly. The police woman that had been taking notes as Faith had tried to tell her story as fast as she could had said, "Honey, you need to find yourself a new man. That boy ain't no good for you. And I swear your going to be a hero among them women that ain't got the guts to hit back."

"B-but—" Faith had stammered, trying to explain herself, but the policewoman wouldn't hear it. "If your boyfriend tries to press charges, you can be sure that the Maxville police force will be behind you."

"But he's not my boyfriend!"

"Sure he ain't honey. Not after he learned the hard way that his woman hits back!" She let out a malicious cackle and walked off, her hips swaying with an attitude only the self-empowered possessed.

Faith rocked and felt her chest constrict again and shuddered. How could she do that? How could she hurt someone like that, even someone she despised most of the time? Is that what she would have to do every time she face an evil villain? Bust him (or her) into a bloody mess? Break their face and make them bleed? Could she do that? Could she really beat on someone, a human being, regardless an evil one?

"Can I have another dollar Faith?" Alex asked, his face covered with crumbs from four bags of Doritos, a S'mores Pop Tart, and two packages of cheese and cracker sandwiches. She had tried and tried to call his dad but no one was picking up, so he was stuck at the hospital with her. And he seemed to have a hollow leg.

"Yeah," she answered in a monotone voice, pulling another dollar out of her purse and handing it into Alex's grubby little hands. He grinned and ran off to the corner of vending machines, where he contemplated his many choices. In what package should his sugar high arrive? He picked a package of Starburst and tore into it like an animal, making growling noises and eyeing the nurses as if one of them might pounce at any moment to snatch at his candy.

"Oh Faith!" a voice called. "I came as soon as I heard!" Cadence rushed into the waiting room and threw her arms around Faith's neck, making comforting noises and petting at her hair.

The tears that Faith had been trying her best to hold at bay came flooding out in a loud wail. She sobbed into her best friends shoulder and mumbled, "It's all my fault."

"Hmmmm? You're fault? Babe, you have some serious psychological problems if you think I am going to accept that." Cadence snapped into her hair. Her arms tightened around Faith's shoulders and then there was an expectant quiet as Cadence waited for her reply.

"Faith?"

That came from Alex, whose little voice was muffled by a mouthful of sweets. She pulled her head out of Cadences shoulder and sniffled in Alex's general direction. He waddled up to her and titled his head to the side, as if contemplating great social and political issues that would define the state of the free world. "I don't think it was your fault."

"What?" she squeaked.

"I don't think it's your fault. He was a meany."

"Oh."

"So maybe you should stop crying. I don't like it when you're sad. You were sad forever, and today you weren't. But now you're sad again. And I don't like it."

"Oh, Alex." She sniffled again and felt her eyes start to leak. "T-thank you!"

"Okay. So…can I have another dollar?" Cadence laughed and stood, gently pushing Faith upright. She pulled a twenty out of her back pocket and snapped it in Alex's face.

"Here kid, knock yourself out." Alex's eye got really wide and his mouth opened in awe. His fat-fingered little hand slowly reached up and plucked it from Cadence's grasp.

"Wow," he said. He looked up at Cadence and grinned. "Are you a kazillionaire?"

She laughed again, her loud booming laugh, and stuck out her chest. "Yup." she said, her eyebrows cocked.

"Wow! I've never met a kazillionaire before! This is sooooo cool!" He hopped off to the vending machines and stomped out a little war dance in front of the rows of snacks, cackling all the while. Cadence turned back to Faith, a great grin on her face. Faith sniffled.

"Hey now! You heard the kid, it wasn't your fault."

"But—" Faith began, feeling desperately like she had to explain.

"I have already heard all about what happened, and I know that your explanation will be full of guilt. If you really want to talk about it, you know I'm here, but I can't help but say that if you're going to blame yourself, I don't want to hear it."

Faith sniffled. "Talk about brutally honest."

Cadence sighed and began to pace. "Do you remember how we met our first day of freshman year?" Faith nodded, and sniffled a bit. "You had just gotten done shooting darts of icicles out of your fingers, and only just missed taking out Boomers eye. He declared you a hero only after he spent five minutes yelling at you, but the whole time he spat in your face you were freezing his feet to the floor, and as he turned to walk away from you he fell over his own face."

Faith allowed herself a tiny smile. She used to be quite the little devil.

Cadence beamed and continued. "I laughed so hard that I blew out the lighting system, and polarized all of the props for Save the Citizen." She paused, a faraway look in her eye. "We both got detention, and as we sat in the nasty white room we traded jokes and laughed about the stupidity of the adult world. We were fast friends after that, and it wasn't long that we discovered we only lived a few streets away from each other. We were inseparable. And then one morning I came out of the house, ready to walk to the bus stop with you and you gave me that look that just screamed you were disgusted with something. It had never been aimed at me before, but I had seen it thrown in the direction of plenty of teachers. You stood there, with your fists on your hips and demanded that I go back inside and change. You had hated what I had decided to wear that day."

"Yeah," Faith conceded. "I put up with your Jane Austin dresses and refugee jeans, and your gypsy headbands, but I refused to walk in the hallways with you if you were going to be wearing yellow and purple stripped parachute pants."

Cadence laughed. "And do you remember what we promised? We swore to be forever honest with each other. We promised to tell the truth, even when we knew it would sting. And we promised that we would be there, for the part after the truth telling, when feelings were hurt and egos were deflated and our friendship was frayed. We promised. I promised. And here I am." Cadence sat down in the chair next to Faith and swung it around to face her. To anyone else it might look like she had done a quick trick with her legs, but really she had used her powers to push and pull on the metal legs of the chair.

"Faith, I know that sometimes I say things that upset you. You avoid me until you think I've forgotten, but I don't. I am only holding up my end of the deal, Faith. I am only keeping my promise. And what worries me more than anything else it I think that you aren't. I don't know if you are lying to me, or to yourself, but you are lying. And when you're ready to stop you know I will be here to listen. But not before you stop."

Faith felt her eye's tear up yet again, and fought with a lump in her throat. "I—" she began, but was interrupted when a nurse walked out of the ER doors. She was the nurse that admitted Jeremy!

"Excuse me!" She jumped up and dogged around Cadence's chair, running after the nurse. "Excuse me! The boy, the boy that was brought in here about two hours ago? His leg was busted up pretty bad? Is he okay?" The nurse turned and gave Faith a kindly smile.

"Oh honey, that boy's parents got him out of here not a minute after he was admitted. They wanted him transferred to a different hospital, one of those hoighty-toighty private hospitals for rich people. I am sorry that you had to wait all that time just to here that." she smiled again and walked off.

"Well, I guess that means we can get out of here." Cadence said from behind her. "I'll take you home and we can drop off the kid on the way."

"Yeah, sure."

Faith called Alex and the three of them walked out of the hospital and wandered around the parking complex, looking for Cadence's old beat up BMW. It was bright yellow, but that didn't seem to change the fact that they couldn't find it. Finally Cadence flicked her fingers at the security camera's screwing up the picture, and threw out her arms.

The Bugg flew out from a corner and squealed to a stop in front of them, the tires smoking a little. "Well. There you have it. Hop in kid."

Alex, his pockets full of snacks and sweets, wedged himself in the backseat, which was really more of a war zone. Clothes and books and papers and (oddly enough) the arm to a manikin fought for space among all the other junk that had died back there. Alex didn't seem to mind. This whole day had been a great adventure for him—he had met a kazillionaire after all.

Cadence pulled into Alex's driveway only a few moments after his dad did. "Dad! You'll never guess what I did today!" Alex yelled as he crawled out from the backseat.

"You'll never guess what Faith did either," Cadence mumbled with a smirk.


	10. Nice of You to Make It

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine. 

I will never, ever, be able to say this enough: Thank you to those of you who reviewed. It means so much to me to get feedback and the only reason I keep writing this fic is you.

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Ten, Nice of You to Make It

Monday morning dawned gray and rainy; the overcast sky was shot with streaks of viscous black clouds that swirled angrily. Faith managed to make it out of bed and down to the bus stop without too much damage, though all the windows in her house were frosted over.

At school she managed to avoid seeing Jeremy, though she heard plenty about him. She received quite a few vicious glares and snide remarks of which she could only catch but a word or two from some of the bigger and burlier kids that heaved their bulk around the hallways. She also, and she found this almost as unbearable as the hackling, received more than her fair share of shy glances of awe from groups of tittering underclassman.

She still wasn't sure how she felt about the whole thing, and couldn't be sure if she would apologize to Jeremy when she saw him or if she would yell obscenities at him. But she knew he was at school. She saw him, sometimes only out of the corner of her eye, and always made a hasty exit. It was one of those very moments, after having successfully avoided a confrontation with him by ducking into an empty classroom, that she heard a deep, velvety voice growl, "So, sweet of you to make it."

Faith spun around, her heart thumping somewhere in her throat, and was almost-startled-but-not-quite by Warren's presence in the otherwise empty classroom. _That boy just shows up whenever I think I'm alone_, she thought with a flip of her stomach that she quickly wrote off to the nervous nature of her day. It defiantly had nothing to with the tall, dark, and insanely handsome pyro that she was sharing the classroom with.

"What do you mean?" she asked, wrapping her arms tight around the books she held at her side and drawing them up to cradle close to her chest.

"You were supposed to be here two hours ago."

"Here?"

"Yes here. As in this classroom. To practice." He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Wait. What?"

"You didn't read the handbook did you?" Faith took a moment to gather her wits about her, which must have fled some time ago when Warren started talking and she started looking at his lips. Then she remembered, the handbook she received on Friday. The one she was supposed to read over the weekend. The one she completely forgot about.

"Oh," she said before he had time to reply. Not that he jumped at the chance. "Look. I am really sorry, but I have had a really hectic weekend, and I just didn't get around to it. I actually completely forgot about it." She tried to smile but it came out more like a grimace.

Warren stood up off of the desk he had been sitting on with the power and grace of an angry lion. "I guess that explains it. Because if you actually opened the book you would have saw, on the very first page, that you were suppose to come to this room—307 for future reference—at the beginning of the school day to start practicing with your super partner. That's me, you know, for future reference."

"I said I was sorry. I was a little busy avoiding one idiotic football player and about a whole team of his large and mean looking groupies." Warren almost cracked a smile at that. Mostly one side of his mouth quirked up for about a millisecond.

"Yeah, I heard about that." He said. His voice rumbled from his chest, which gave her the impression that he might be holding in laughter. "You went psycho chic on his ass. Nice." Faith opened her mouth to argue, to try to explain what really happened, but instead she found herself grinning with pleasure.

"Well, I do what I can," she said with a smile. She looked around the classroom, that was completely empty except for two desks at the front of the room, one of which Warren was now leaning against, and a blackboard on a stand, the kind that revolve horizontally and can be spun to the backside to hide what is on the front. There was some indecipherable scrawl and a few sketches of random things like a tree and a profile of an old man.

Warren saw her looking and quickly wiped away the chalk marks with two swipes of his muscled forearm, which he then wiped on his jeans. Faith could tell he was going to ignore her inquisitive gaze; she reached out towards him and brushed a bit of the chalk dust he had missed off of his arm with the very tips of her fingers.

She was surprised at how utterly rock solid he was, yet how warm he was. She knew she shouldn't be—surprised that is—he did manipulate fire after all. But for the briefest second she actually felt, well, warm.

It was how she imagined the embrace of a loving father (Not that she didn't have one. Had one. But she had never felt true warmth. She was a 'zen.) or the nest of a down comforter with a favorite teddy bear or the sand on a beach during a summer sunset. For that moment she felt as if she could…fog up the mirror after a shower like every other normal teen, rather than frosting it over, no matter how hot the water was! It was a completely ridiculous thing to think, to wish for, but she had. Faith smiled at the thought, beaming around like an idiot.

"I was bored."

Faith started. "What?"

"I was bored. Waiting for you. So I just doodled." Warren indicated the board with a toss of his head.

"Sorry—" she began, but was interrupted by the bell for lunch.

"After you," Warren said, sweeping out his arm. Faith smiled her thank you and went to the door, reaching out for the handle. Warren beat her to it and swung the door open for her with one yank of the handle and let her stumble her way out into the hallway, tripping over her own feet in her haste not to make a fool of herself in front of him. She couldn't help it. She liked him.

She stepped on her own pant leg and pitched forward, her books tumbling out of her hands. Warren caught her by the shoulders and held her upright with surprising gentleness, and she felt his warmth flood her before he took a step back and cocked an eyebrow.

Faith almost screamed in exasperation at her clumsiness and swept up her books without meeting Warrens gaze. She mumbled something incoherent about being a klutz and stared at the ground.

"That's alright. I find it charming," he said with laughter in his voice. And with that he turned and walked towards the cafeteria.


	11. He Would Have Been Proud

The characters, setting, and other elements of Sky High belong to the creators thereof. The plot is wholly mine. 

To my reviewers: You must realize by now how much I appreciate you by now, but here it is again—Thank you.

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Eleven, He Would Have Been Proud

Faith stood where she was, refusing to move as people pushed past her to get to the cafeteria. She was floating on a cloud of complete elation. Her heart was barely beating and only the tiniest wisps of air moved in and out of her lungs. He called her charming.

Warren Peace had called her clumsy, klutzy ways charming!!

A huge smile threatened to engulf her face as she beamed at the world. If her life was being drawn as a comic book, little bubbles of happiness would be swirling around her head and sunlight would be raining upon her. Faith was literally drunk with happiness. Really, nothing could have ruined the moment for her.

Well, almost nothing.

"Winters!"

Faith turned and saw Jeremy barreling down the hall. She looked down at his leg and saw that it was fine. Very much intact. So intact, in fact, that he was using it to propel himself towards her at an alarming speed. She cringed and felt all those little bubbles of happiness burst with pops of gloom. So much for avoiding him all day.

"Do you know what you've done!?!" he bellowed. He pushed and shoved his way towards Faith, who still hadn't moved. He shouldered past a few juniors who still hadn't run off and towered over Faith, sticking his nose in her face, his eyes blazing with more life than she had yet to see in him. His breath heaved in and out of his chest in a rather violent nature and his fists were balled at his hips.

Faith didn't answer.

"All I've been is nice to you! You're not even that pretty and I asked you out! I am the freaking cornerback! You're just some ugly nobody and now because of you I can't play in the ONLY FREAKING GAME OF THE ENTIRE FREAKING SEASON!" Jeremy shook his fists around and threw his chest right and left, and the entire time he yelled in Faith's face he…grew.

He was getting bigger. His shoulders were twice as wide and his arms were twice as round and he was at least a foot taller. His muscles bulged and quivered like they were about to bust and his face twisted with rage.

So that was his power. Jeremy got bigger. Not smarter, just bigger. "Please remove your face from my personal space," Faith said in a voice that threatened, yet still remained calm. She refused to overreact.

"You ruined the only game I would have played!" he hollered, though his nose had retreated a few inches. His hot breath still peppered her face and his eyes still blazed with fury.

Faith made the mistake of being completely ignorant of sports and said, "I am sure there will be another game where you could throw around the ball." Jeremy visibly shrunk in size until he stared at her; his eyes were level with her own. So he could shrink too.

He shook with rage and snarled, "You stupid bitch."

The few people that were brave enough to stay in the hall and watch the drama unfold gasped. Only one voice rang above all the mutters and hisses of disgust.

"Now that was a mistake."

A fireball flew through the air and exploded against Jeremy's chest, throwing him backwards with enough force to crush the lockers he landed against. Faith was torn between running away and running to see that Jeremy was okay. She looked between him and Warren, who yet again came out of nowhere right when she needed him. Flames were licking his arms and his eyes burned a fierce flickering red.

Jeremy groaned and stumbled upright, and saw Warren. "Fuck off, Matchstick." he growled, growing in size again. Warren cocked an eyebrow.

"Is that anyway to talk in front of a lady?" he asked with mock concern. A fireball was growing between his hands. Faith whipped her head back and forth, trying to decide what to do. She didn't like fighting, and she didn't want to hurt anyone. She didn't like hurting people. But part of her argued that sometimes, pain is the only thing that will shut people up.

Jeremy roared and lunged at Warren, who chose that exact moment to release the fireball he had been spinning between his hands. The fireball grazed Jeremy's shoulder, but he just kept charging and barreled into Warren, plowing him through the lockers and the brick wall. Faith screamed and made to rush after him, but just then Jeremy flew backwards out of the hole and skidded across the floor. On his face.

Warren came stomping out of the hole, his entire torso encased in flames, his eyes nothing but glowing black coals in a sea of fire.

The noise had drawn quite a crowd, and people streamed out of the cafeteria and swarmed in the hallway, pushing and shoving at both ends of the hallway to get a better view. Jeremy once again stumbled upright, and made to dive at Warren, but at the last second changed his course and grabbed Faith around the leg and yanked.

She felt the floor rise to meet the back of her head and willed her body to freeze. She didn't feel the impact, but when she made to sit up she had to peel herself out of the floor, because she had been embedded at least three inches.

"That was payback bitch!" Jeremy spat.

Well, at that point Faith had taken just about enough. She formed a huge icicle and in the blink of an eye hurled it towards Jeremy. During that same blink Warren roared and threw himself at Jeremy; Cadence jumped over at least three people and launched herself towards the brawl, acting as a giant magnet and pulling the doors off of lockers and heaving them at Jeremy; and Travis barreled into the fight, his hands popping and crackling with electricity, shooting off bolts of lightening. Four of Jeremy's friends skidded into the mess and took one look at the screaming, fiery ball of flailing limbs and jumped in, fists swinging. A shoot of water blew a hole in the ceiling and the whistle of ice melting fast burned the ears. Everyone was yelling and everyone was beating on someone else, except for Faith, who just blocked every punch she could with a block of ice that melted faster than she could form it because Warren was right next to her acting as the human bonfire.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" a voice commanded. Everyone froze except one of Jeremy's friends who continued to pound on someone's leg with hands that were made of rock. He swore with every blow. "Miller! STOP!" The kid stopped and sat up, looking around at everyone staring at him.

"What an idiot," someone muttered and a few people tittered and pointed. The kid had been pummeling his own leg.

"I am absolutely disgusted with the lot of you!" Principal Powers stood with her legs apart and her hands on her hips, glaring at the group on the floor. Cadence stuck out her chin and smirked as blood flowed down her bottom lip like she was insanely proud of herself. Warren shared a similar look, but without the blood.

"She started it!" Jeremy whined, pointing at Faith with a finger that still trembled with rage.

"I don't care who started it! I'm finishing it! Your behavior is appalling! Travis! I expect better from you! And Warren! I was under the impression you learned your lesson! And Cadence! Is this any way to represent the theater department?" Principal Powers looked down at Faith. Her voice was quiet now. "Faith. How would your father feel if he saw you now?"

Faith blinked and felt her jaw drop with shock and hurt. She swallowed and tried to hold back the tears. A warm hand found hers and squeezed tight, giving her the strength to stand and look her Principal in the eyes and say, "He would have been proud."


	12. A Virtue

I know this is short but I have been neglectful for so long that I figured a little update was better than no update. More to come soon, I promise. 

As always, props to my reviewers...I am so sorry about the wait.

This chapter is dedicated to best friends everywhere...they make that world go 'round.

The Beginning of the End

Chapter Thirteen, A Virtue

_He would have been proud._ He would have been proud? What the hell was wrong with her? Her father would have grounded her for life, that's what he would have done.

Here she was, sitting in the detention room, surrounded by her friends who were all glaring at Jeremy and his friends, with the air thick enough to slice and serve with a little garnish. The only person not glaring was Warren, who used his feet to shoot his desk into the corner, pulled out paperback, and had proceeded to read with an air of nonchalance. He hadn't said a word to her, hadn't even looked at her, since Powers had marched them all off to detention.

But he had held her hand.

If even for a second, just the briefest of moments that seemed to last forever at the time, he had held her hand.

There was a small bubble in her chest that swelled every time she thought about his touch and what it might mean. She grinned foolishly at the floor and suppressed the urge to giggle. And he had called her charming. Faith's smile broadened and threatened to crack her face in two.

So this day just got so much better, she thought, physically putting her hand to her breastbone and pushing against the bubble of happiness that sparkled within her. She was giddy, and there was little for it.

"What are you smiling about bitch?"

Faith looked up at Jeremy and cocked her head, the grin never leaving her face. He seemed shocked that she was seeping with pleasure. "I am delighted in the day, Jeremy,"she said.

"Huh?"

She didn't think he actually meant to make that little grunt of ignorance but she smiled harder. What a moron.

"Hey, dickface. She said she's happy. I mean, the gods of fate granted her the opportunity to beat the shit out of you twice in three days. I would be happy too. So why don't you shove it and leave her alone. She doesn't like you. She doesn't want to watch you grope other men in tight pants on the football field. She doesn't want to go out to lunch with you. Not that I blame her, I mean, watching a pig eat is not up there on my To Do list. She doesn't want to go listen to Squishing Vegetables or whatever with you at the Crippled Inn. I would say she just wants to forget you, but we all need a good laugh on a dark day." Cadence lowered her eyebrows and smirked at Jeremy. "I'm sorry. Was that too much? I would spell it out for you if I thought you could read."

Jeremy blinked.

"Yeah. Try silence. I hear it used to be a virtue." Cadence was enjoying herself, Faith could tell.

Jeremy blinked again.

Faith swallowed a chortle and beamed at the ceiling beams instead.

"It's Smashing Pumpkins."

"Hey Jeremy. Look closely at me. Closely now. Look into my eyes and try and be honest with yourself. Do you think I give a flying fart in space? Hmm?" Cadence smirked again when he didn't answer. "Honesty also used to be a virtue."


	13. It Was Empty

I know it's a short one, but I am still working out how I want the relationship to progress...

Throws love at reviewers Thanks you as always.

The Beginning of the End

Chapter 14, It Was Empty

She was humming. At least to her it was humming. To everyone else it sounded something like the cry of a dying cat, but to Faith, it was humming.

She couldn't help it. Tuesday morning had dawned bright and cheery, and Pappy had made a breakfast that didn't include egg shells. And in a few moments she would be in a classroom with Warren Peace, alone.

She hummed a little louder and made her way into school, waving at Travis as she made her way to her locker, which was in one piece now. She messed with the papers and books on the shelf, shoved her backpack in the bottom, and let the metal door close with a snap.

Even the bell that rang seemed to resonate with happiness. Faith had to crush the urge to skip as she walked to room 307. When she actually got there, her stomach jumped a little, and she hesitated before she opened the door and slid in.

It was empty.

Well, not completely empty. The two desks and the chalk board were still there, but human life? Smoking human life?

Why wasn't he there?

Had he not just complained about her about her absence yesterday?? And now he had the gull to not show up as well? Was it something she had done? Or said? Nothing had come out of his mouth the whole duration of detention; he had just sat in the corner and poured over that paperback. She hadn't said anything either. Is that why he wasn't here? Because she hadn't said anything to him?

What if he had gotten hurt? What if Jeremy had followed him out of detention and cornered him? He could be in a back alley somewhere! Bleeding! Cold! ALONE!

She rushed at the door and made to wrench it open, she had to find him! She reached for the door, right as in swung inward. At her face.

It was a few moments before she realized she was on the floor, looking up into a pair of narrowed grey eyes. "Are you okay?"

Faith groaned and rubbed her forehead. "Sorry I'm late. And, uh, sorry about your forehead." Warren held out his hand, which she grabbed with no hesitation, and he helped her up. He must have pushed the door open right when she was ready to pull at it.

So she could rush off.

To save him.

Faith groaned again. She needed to stop reading those silly romance novels. Maybe she should pick up a nice mystery, or a coloring book.

"So, hey. I guess we should get started. Did you read the booklet?" Faith shook her head. In all honesty she didn't even know where it was. It was very likely she would ever read it at this rate.

"That's cool. It was pretty much useless anyway." Warren dropped a backpack on one of the desks and riffled through it, pulling out a paperback and a pack of cigarettes. The book he set down, the pack he opened and pulled out a cigarette, which was already glowing at the tip when he put it to his lips.

Faith couldn't help herself, "That is disgusting!"

Warren shrugged and shoved his backpack from the desk to the floor. He swung into the seat and flipped open the book to a page that was folded down and blew a puff of smoke out of his mouth. He proceeded to ignore her. She hadn't read the booklet, but she was fairly certain what he was doing was against the rules. Not that he ever followed the rules, but she would rather not be in detention two days in a row.

"You are going to set of a smoke alarm or something with that," she complained, coughing and waving her hand in front of her face. "And shouldn't we be practicing or something?" He slowly turned until his eyes met hers.

"This room doesn't have any smoke alarms. That is why we are in it...so I don't set them off whenever I flame up. And yeah, we should be practicing." He blinked. "But I don't want to." Warren turned back to his book and flicked his wrist so the ashes on the end of his cigarette floated to the floor.

"Well I do!" she snapped.

"Yeah, I can tell. That's why you read the booklet so intently."

"No, I just didn't waste my time with the bullshit so I could get straight to the good stuff." For a second Faith couldn't believe that had come out of her mouth, but when he saw the smirk on Warren's face she threw a little party for herself on the inside, cake and balloons and confetti included.

"And here I was thinking it was because you had a boyfriend you were spending all your time sucking face with."

Faith had to fight with her face so it didn't show her surprise. "Yeah right," she snapped because she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Whatever. Girls like you always have some little boy toy to play with. I am guessing Football Face was your latest conquest and he got mad when you moved on to the next stupid fucker."

"For your information," Faith started, her hands crackling with ice, "I didn't want anything to do with Jeremy. And not that it is ANY of your business, but I don't have a boyfriend!" She did her best to hold back the fact that she had never had a boyfriend.

She was trying to think of something else to throw at him, some biting remark, but he had already turned back to his book. So instead she stood up and spun around and stalked out the door.


	14. The Smell of Vanilla

Thank you for your reviews. Ya know I love it.

The Beginning of the End

The Smell of Vanilla

Warren watched her walk away. It was her hair that did it for him, so long. It swirled around her like a silver fog, made her wide eyes all the more pronounced. The door snapped behind her and light seemed to leave the room.

He didn't know why she angered him so much. Her whispery voice and pouty lips, her willowy figure and tapered fingers. Why did he even notice her fingers? But he couldn't help his thoughts drifting to what it would feel like to hold them in his hand for longer that a moment.

And she was right about The Once and Future King, it was boring. He wanted to tell her that, to hear her laugh and see her eyes sparkle. Instead she sat next to him smelling like vanilla and looking like some sort of ice goddess and he hated her for it.

No girl should glitter like that.

He thought about what he had said to her, about her boyfriends. Warren regretted it, but had felt this icy desire piss her off. He lit another cigarette and blew smoke out of his mouth with force. He was so convinced she was the sort of girl to jump from one guy to the next, playing with them until she got bored. That was what pretty girls did. But then he remembered the panic in her eyes when Jeremy had grabbed her in the library. There was so much more to her terror than the surprise of being manhandled. It was like she was horrified with the very idea of contact with a guy.

Had she ever had...contact? Then he remembered what she had hissed at him, that she didn't have a boyfriend. The whole idea shocked him. The way she said it made it sound as if she had never had a boyfriend. Warren shook his head as if to shake the very thought from his head. That was pretty much impossible.

But she didn't have a boyfriend now. Warren knew that for sure. He blew smoke again, and then looked at the cigarette in his hand.

He flicked it to the floor and crushed it with the toe of his boot. He grabbed his backpack, slung it around to his shoulder slipped out the door after the smell of vanilla and the sparkle of ice.

Now was as good a time as any to quit.


End file.
